p.80 “I Chose Influence” - In the first paragraph of the section, add the following text to the victory options: “or E) State one narrative Fact about the outcome of the Duel (appropriate to the scope of both the Scenario’s fiction and the Duel’s terms).”

FAQs

FAQ categories are presented relative to their presentation in the book.

Pack Ranks

Question: “The Taicho Rank Power is confusing – what’s up with that?”Answer: “This is a miswritten power, a relic of an older draft! It should instead apply to all duels against lower-ranked Pack members, and not just those initiated by the Taicho..”

Question: “Can the Junshou Rank Power be used against my opponent’s revealed initiative card?”Answer: “Yes, the Junshou rank power can be used against Initiative, provided the Junshou character is the challengee, and the challenger is of lower rank in the Pack.”

Pack Roles

Shinmai / Prospect

Question: If the Prospect duels with another player character, does the other character’s Fratricide Tech apply?Answer: No, it does not. The Prospect is not an actual Brother of the Pack, and thus Fratricide Techs do not apply when dueling against them.

Duels

Question: Can you have more than two Allowances?Answer: No. Let’s say your opponent Escalates, and you Block that Escalation, sending the action back into the previous round. You would have gained an Allowance from his Escalation, and you would still have it after the Block (the past cannot be undone). But if he escalates again, you do not gain a second Allowance. You will only gain a second Allowance if he then escalated the next stage as well.

Assume that a few actions after you Blocked, you decided to escalate. In that case, you would lose your allowance for that stage and give it to your opponent instead. In other words: There can only be one Allowance given per Escalated stage of the Duel. And to extend that: Blocking an Escalation does not negate the Allowance.

Question: It looks as if the “I Chose influence” outcomes don’t actually let you influence the fiction. Is this intentional?Answer: This is an unfortunate case of “What’s in the designer’s brain” and “What made it into the book” failure. The Influence option should definitely allow you to affect the fiction directly. See Errata, above.

“Official” House Rules

Over time I have run the game so much that I’ve found myself taking some shortcuts and tricks with the core rules. Here are some of my own house rules that you might want to consider using, as well.

Gambits

When either the Player or Sensei is allowed to play multiple cards in a gambit, instead of adding them together use the highest card of those played. This limits the “unwinnable Gambits” problem sometimes seen when Sensei has one or more Omen in play.